Caster.



B. H. HUMPHREY. GASTBE APPLICATION FILED APR. 8,1909.

938,867; Patented Nov. 2, 1909.

attain; a

UNiTEi) STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN H. HUMPHREY, 0F CURRY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO COREY CASTOR CO.,.OF, COR/RY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedNov. ,2, 1909.

Application filed April 8, 1909. Serial No. 488,631.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN H. HUMPHREY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Corry in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Caster, of which the following is aspecification.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improvedconstruction of furniture caster and one aim of the invention is toprovide a novel and highly efiicient anchoring means fora caster of theclass described, the anchoring means being so constructed and arrangedas to bear firmly against the wall of a socket into which the caster isfitted whereby accidental displacement of the caster will be obviated.

Another object of the present invention is to provide, in a caster, abearing so constructed as to render the caster readily responsive to anychange in direction of move ment of a piece of furniture which itsupports, and in this connection it is proposed to secure a verysensitive or responsive hearing construction without the employment ofball or similar bearings.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel means forlocking the caster in its socket.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view or a casterconstructed in accordance with the present invention, and Fig. 2 is avertical sectional view therethrough.

In the drawings, the caster yoke is indicated by the numeral 5, theshank by the numeral 6 and the caster wheel by the numeral 7, theseelements being of the ordinary construction with the exception of thecaster shank 6 which is formed, for a purpose to be presently explained,with a circumscribing groove 8.

The socket member of the caster comprises a base which consists of a capplate 9 formed with an annular upstanding flange 10 and a plate 11 whichis forced into place within the cap member 9 as is clearly shown in thesectional view of the drawings and seats, preferably, below the upperedge of the flange 10 of the cap member. As is shown in the drawings,the cap member 9 and plate 11 are both formed with openings, indicatedby the numeral 12, for the passage of the shank 6 of the caster andextending in a series around this opening 12 in the plate 11, are otheropenings 13 each of which receives one end of an anchoring member whichis here shown as in the form of a length of resilient wire indicated bythe numeral 14, headed at its end which is inserted through the opening13 and projecting upwardly from the said plate 11 in parallelism to theshank 6 of the caster. From anchoring members are bent to extendsubstantially at right angles radially and are then bent downwardly andinwardly as at 15 and finally downwardly and outwardly radially as at 16with their lower ends seating in radial slots 17 formed in the plate 11,one outwardly radially of and with respect to each opening 13. Theanchoring members just described are resilient as will be readilyunderstood and while their upstanding portions 14 are substantiallyrelatively fixed, their portions 15 and 16'tend at all times to springaway from their portions 14 and are only limited in such movement byengaging each at one end of its respective slot 17 in the plate 11, itbeing understood that when the socket member is inserted into a recessformed in an article of furniture to be supported by the caster, theseanchoring members will have their portions 15 and 16 sprung inwardlytoward their upstanding portions 14 and will hence bind frictionallyagainst the wall of the recess into which they are inserted.

The bearing member of the caster is in the form of a head 18 formed witha convex under side 19 and with openings 20 through which pass the upperends of the upstanding portions 14 of the anchoring members of thecaster socket member, the radially bent portion of these anchoringmembers extending radially across the upper face of the said head 18. Itwill be understood of course that the engagement of the upstandingportions 14 of the anchoring members through the openings 20 in the head18 will serve to properly relatively space these members and to holdtheir said portions 14 substantially relatively fixed or rigid and thaton the other hand the said head 18 is firmly supported by the members,their portions 14 being headed at their lower ends as indicated by thenumeral 21 and the headsbeing received between the plate 11 and the cap9 of their upwardly extending portions 14, the

the base of the socket member of the caster, the said head being in thismanner supported against upward movement.

As heretofore stated, the under side of the head is convexed and it ispreferable that the upper end of the shank 6 of the caster be formedalso convex or round and the said end of the caster shank has a bearingagainst the under side of the head 18 axially thereof and owing to theconvexity of the said upper end of the shank and the under side of thehead, an extremely sensitive and responsive bearing is in this mannerprovided as will be readily understood.

As heretofore stated, the shank 6 of the caster is formed with acircumscribing groove 8 and engaging in this groove and encircling theshank is an open resilient locking ring 22 which is confined between theplate 11 and cap 9 of the socket member and is held concentric withrespect to the edge of the opening 12 in the said plate 11 and cap 9, bythe heads 21 at the lower ends of the upstanding portions 14: of theanchor ing members. It will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 2 ofthe drawings that this groove 8 is of considerably greater width thanthe diameter of the locking ring 22 and owing to this fact, the castershank 6 may have a bearing against the under side of the head 19 withoutexerting any strain whatsoever upon the ring 22, this ring servingmerely to prevent dropping of the caster shank through the openings 12should the article of furniture which the caster is to support, belifted.

From the foregoing description of the invention it will be seen that Ihave provided a very substantial form of caster which is readilyresponsive to any change in direction of movement of a piece offurniture which it supports and that the bearing which renders thecaster responsive to changes in direction of movement is in no wayexpensive to manufacture, it involving no ball or similar bearingswhatsoever. It will further be understood that the anchoring members areso constructed and arranged as to positively insure a firm seating ofthe socket member of the caster in its receiving recess in the articleof furniture which the caster is to support and it will further beappreciated that the several elements of the socket member of the castermay be quickly and readily assembled and are not expensive tomanufacture.

hat is claimed is 1. In a caster, a socket member comprising a base, aplurality of resilient anchoring members carried by the base, the saidbase being provided with a shank receiving opening, the said anchoringmembers being disposed radially about said opening, and a bearing head.supported by the said members and located axially in alinement with theshank receiving opening.

2. In a caster, a socket member comprising a base, a plurality ofanchoring members carried by the base, each of said members comprising arelatively fixed portion and a yieldable portion, the latter portion ofeach of the members working in a slot in the base, and a bearing headsupported by the relatively fixed portion of the anchoring members.

3. In a caster, a socket member comprising a base, anchoring memberssecured each at one end to the base and projecting upwardly therefromand thence bent back upon itself with its other end seating in a slot inthe base, and a bearing head supported by the upstanding portion of thesaid anchoring members.

1. In a caster, a socket member comprising a base, resilient anchoringmembers carried by the base, a bearing head supported by the saidmembers, and a caster shank fitted through the base and bearing at itsupper end against the under side of said head.

5. In a caster, a socket member comprising a base, a plurality ofanchoring members carried by the base, a head supported by the membersand holding the members in proper relative position, and a caster-shankfitted through the base and bearing at its upper end against the underside of said head.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN H. HUMPH-REY.

Witnesses E. HUME TALBERT, E. DANIELS.

